Unit rationale, description and aim
Patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) present with complex, dynamic, and often life-threatening conditions that require continuous monitoring, advanced interventions, and multidisciplinary management. The critical care nurse plays a central role in the patient’s trajectory of care, from admission and stabilisation through ongoing management, rehabilitation, and discharge or transfer. To provide safe, effective, and holistic care for critically ill patients, ICU nurses must possess advanced pathophysiological knowledge, and be proficient in a wide range of technical, cognitive, and behavioral skills to assess, manage, and evaluate the care needs of patients with acute, chronic, and complex critical illnesses.
Content for this unit is selected to reflect the complexity of ICU care, including advanced assessment, haemodynamic management, ventilatory support, fluid and electrolyte balance, thermoregulation, infection prevention, sedation and analgesia management. Concepts such as physiological deterioration and the provision of emotional and cultural support will be explored, enabling students to analyse, evaluate critical care knowledge.
The aim of this unit is to enable students to evaluate the complexity of intensive care nursing, develop advanced knowledge and clinical skills, and critically appraise and apply evidence to ensure critically ill patients receive safe, high-quality care that promotes health, wellbeing, and dignity.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Critically apply advanced knowledge of bioscience ...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically reflect on the role and scope of the in...
Learning Outcome 02
Analyse the physical, psychosocial, and cultural i...
Learning Outcome 03
Analyse evidence-based approaches to preventative,...
Learning Outcome 04
Apply advanced clinical reasoning to design, justi...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
- Professional Identity in Advanced Intensive Care Nursing Practice
- Definition and clinical relevance of professional identity
- Role and scope of the intensive care nurse specialist
- Clinical decision making and accountability
- Professional standards and frameworks
- Family centred care and culturally responsive care
- Fundamental management of the critically ill patient
- Neurological monitoring and management
- Analgesia management
- Sedation management
- Delerium
- External Ventricular Drain
- Thermoregulation
- ECG and hemodynamic monitoring and management
- Vasoactive medication
- Central Venous Access
- Invasive Arterial Blood Pressure
- Infection prevention
- Mechanical ventilation and oxygenation
- Nursing care and considerations of mechanical ventilated patients & non-invasive mechanical ventilation (including Nitric Oxide and positioning)
- Arterial Blood Gas
- Nursing care of tracheostomised patients
- Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation
- Gastrointestinal and renal monitoring and management
- Nutrition
- Fluid and Electrolyte balance
- Pressure area care
- Pharmacotherapy in ICU
- Care of the family of the critically ill patient
- Care of patients with cardiocirculatory disorders
- Assessment and nursing management of common cardiovascular disorders
- Myocardial Infarction/Acute Coronary Syndrome
- Heart Failure/Acute Pulmonary Oedema
- Ischemic heart disease
- Dysrhythmias
- Cardiogenic shock
- Endocarditis
- Aneurysm and aortic dissection
- Valvular heart disease
- Care of patients with respiratory disorders
- Assessment and management of respiratory disorders
- Acute Respiratory Failure
- Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome/respiratory pandemics
- Exacerbation of COPD
- Pulmonary embolism
- Pneumonia
- COVID
- Neuromuscular disorders that affect respiration
- Care of patients with neurological disorders
- Assessment and management of common neurological disorders
- Stroke (ischemic subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracerebral hemorrhage)
- Seizures
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Guillain – Barre syndrome
- Care of patients with renal, gastrointestinal & metabolic alternations
- Assessment and management of renal disorders
- Acute Kidney Injury
- Chronic Kidney Disease/End Stage Renal Failure
- Continuous/Renal replacement therapy (C/RRT)
- Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA)/Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic State (HHS)
- Assessment and management of common gastrointestinal disorders:
- Acute pancreatitis
- Liver dysfunction/acute liver failure
- Gastrointestinal surgery
- Critically ill patients with diabetes
- Pathophysiology and management of shock, sepsis and Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODs)
- Bioscience and management of different types of shock
- Pathophysiology and management of MODs
- Care for patients with hematologic and oncologic emergencies
- Overview of coagulation and fibrinolysis
- Disseminated intravascular coagulation
- Thrombocytopenia
- Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
- Management of hemorrhage
- Critical care for severe trauma patients and critically ill post-surgical patients
- Principles of management of the injured patient
- Spinal immobilisation, collar fitting, care and log rolling
- Special considerations in trauma
- Care considerations for post-surgical patients
- Anesthetic agents
- Principles of management of the critically ill burns patient
- Principles of management of transplant patients
- Immunology of transplantation
- Immunosuppressive medications
- Hospital transport
- In-hospital & inter-hospital
Assessment strategy and rationale
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome and obtain a minimum mark of 50% in graded units.
The assessment strategy is designed to scaffold learning and progressively build students’ advanced knowledge and application of clinical and evidence-based practice with a focus on the care of complex critically ill intensive care patients and their families.
Through the undertaking of two assessment tasks, students will critically reflect their role as a specialist intensive care nurse in improving patient outcomes, apply advanced bioscientific knowledge of complex health conditions and demonstrate clinical reasoning while applying holistic care principle. The second assessment task requires students to independently produce original work that integrates advanced bioscience knowledge, evidence-based practice, and patient-centred clinical decision-making. Both assessment tasks promote analytical thinking, reflection, and evaluation of people-centred care.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Digital Presentation The stud...
Assessment Task 1: Digital Presentation
The student will critically reflect on their role as a specialist intensive care nurse in improving patient outcomes in intensive care settings, demonstrating the ability to critically apply advanced bioscience knowledge and evaluate evidence-based practice to inform clinical decision-making.
30%
Assessment Task 2: Written Assignment Enables st...
Assessment Task 2: Written Assignment
Enables students to critically apply advanced knowledge and clinical reasoning through analysis and evaluation of the evidence-based, people-centred care provided to a complex critically ill case study patient with a variation in health status, with critical reflection on their role as a specialist intensive care nurse.
70%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit equips specialist intensive care nurses with advanced bioscience knowledge, clinical reasoning, and evidence-based skills to deliver person-centred care in complex critical care environments. Through exploration of the evolving specialist nurse role and the physical, psychosocial, and cultural impacts of critical illness, students develop the capacity to make informed clinical decisions, optimise patient outcomes, and contribute effectively to interdisciplinary care.
Delivered fully online, the unit adopts an active and collaborative learning approach that supports students to critically analyse and evaluate evidence-based strategies for caring for complex critically ill patients. Learning activities include guided readings, reflective tasks, and structured online discussions that promote critical thinking and peer engagement. Students collaborate in a supportive online environment, with access to e-learning resources and electronic readings designed to extend and consolidate learning.
Synchronous webinars provide opportunities for real-time discussion, clarification of concepts, and responsive academic support. The flexible delivery mode enables students to balance study with professional commitments while maintaining meaningful engagement. Overall, the unit fosters integration of theory and clinical practice, preparing nurses to deliver safe, evidence-informed care within specialist intensive care settings.